


memories through song

by inukouga



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Slice of Life, i just had to inject some angst, inuyashapridemonth2020, started off lighthearted and was meant to stay that way but of course
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23729878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inukouga/pseuds/inukouga
Summary: Kouga plays a quick little tune. “So. What’d ya think?” He takes note of Inuyasha’s ears, which are laying flat against his head at the harsh sounds, and snorts. “That fuckin’ bad, huh?”“Was a lot worse than I thought you’d do, and that’s saying something.” He hears Kouga laugh.Or; Inuyasha knows that Kouga still grieves over his mother sometimes. When Kouga plays the lullaby she used to play him when he was a pup, Inuyasha is reminded of someone he'd also lost long, long ago.
Relationships: InuYasha/Kouga (InuYasha)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	memories through song

**Author's Note:**

> initially wrote this for inukog week when the prompt was ‘music’ (which is why it’s about what it’s about) and forgot to finish it until it was too late.... but now im finishing it and posting it for inukog day of inuyasha pride month (check out @inuyashapridemonth2020 on tumblr!) babey!!!!

“...What’s that?”

They’re resting after a successful hunt, with Kouga lying against Inuyasha’s shoulder as the latter sits against the walls of the cavern. 

Kouga sits up and looks over to where Inuyasha’s pointing, and spots what, at first, seems to be a short stick on the cavern ground. He frowns, initially confused, before his eyes light up with recognition as he leans forward to examine it more closely.

“What? Oh, the flute? We use it for certain traditional ceremonies and stuff. Like vigils, marriages, burials and a few others,” He picks up the crudely carved wooden flute and holds it out for Inuyasha to see it better. “ Lots of people in the tribe were taught to play by the elders or their parents. Some of ‘em really end up enjoying it and learn until they master it. Even use it to communicate with ancestors.”

Inuyasha peers at it curiously. “Huh.”

“Was never too good at this,” Kouga says. There are a few things etched on it; Inuyasha can make out strange, foreign symbols he doesn’t understand along with a deep groove that vaguely resembles the silhouette of a howling wolf. “It’s more Hakkaku’s thing.”

“ _You_ play?” Inuyasha asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Kinda? Hakkaku taught me how to play a long time ago, but I’m definitely not as good.” Kouga dusts off the mouthpiece and plays a quick little tune. “So. What’d ya think?” He takes note of Inuyasha’s ears, which are laying flat against his head at the harsh, jarring sounds, and snorts. “That fuckin’ _bad_ , huh?”

“Was a lot worse than I thought you’d do, and that’s saying something.” He hears Kouga laugh.

“Oh, yeah? Think you could do better, pup?” Kouga asks. Inuyasha rolls his eyes at the stupid nickname that he’s definitely not secretly fond of.

“Yeah, I mean how hard can it be?” 

“It ain’t as easy as it looks, trust me. ‘Sides, this one isn’t too well made,” He runs a clawed finger along its jagged edges. “One of the younger wolves must’ve made it.”

Inuyasha smirks. “Keep makin’ excuses.”

Kouga scoffs and tries to play another note. It sounds slightly better this time, but Inuyasha still winces exaggeratedly, chuckling when the wolf demon rolls his eyes.

“Oh, quit whinin’, it wasn’t even that terrible that time.”

It honestly hadn’t been. But Inuyasha can’t resist messing with him a little bit.

“Whatever helps ya sleep at night.”

Kouga huffs childishly, turning the flute back and forth in his hands. 

“Well? Ain’t gonna get better just sittin’ there are ya?” He doesn’t even need to turn and look to know that Kouga’s grinning at him, and doesn’t even try to fight off his own small smile. “More you practice, better you’ll get.”

“Tch. If ya wanna hear more so bad, you could just _ask_.” He brings the flute up to his lips, and after playing a few more notes to warm up, he takes a deep breath as if he’s preparing himself for something. “My, uh, my mother— she used to play this for me when I was a pup,” Inuyasha falls silent, listening attentively. 

Kouga’s mother is a topic that’s rarely brought up by the aforementioned demon himself, and though the rest of the tribe still speak of the previous Chief up now and then, they’re all very careful of what they say when Kouga’s around. 

Inuyasha can tell that though decades have passed since her passing, there’s a part of Kouga that still grieves sometimes. He knows that the suddenness of it and the lack of closure both still haunt him.

“She was... just okay at it, my father was a lot better honestly. She didn’t really have lots of time to practice as the Chief. But she did have this one song she’d play really well. Knocked me right out when I was bein’ a brat and wouldn’t fall asleep.” He smiles in remembrance.

It’s quiet for a long moment. Sounds of the waterfall right outside the wolf den echo loudly off the rocky walls of the caves amidst the silence. 

Right when Inuyasha’s about to ask if Kouga’s alright, he begins to play.

The first thing that he notes is that the lullaby is nothing complex or grand. The same eight notes are present throughout the whole song, and though the order in which they’re played changes every now and then, the structure of the song remains the same for the most part.

But, despite all of that, it resonates with Inuyasha far more than anything he’s ever heard before, shockingly profound in its simplicity. The melody graces his ears gently, and he finds himself briefly overwhelmed with the sheer amount of _everything_ he’s feeling. He can hear history in it, can see generations of wolf demons, young and old, play this for their kin with a desire for those that came before them to be remembered. He closes his eyes and focuses solely on listening, taking note of the undertones of wistful yearning, and he wonders if it’s present in the original lullaby or if that’s just Kouga letting some of his own emotions bleed into his performance.

Once Inuyasha learns how it goes, he begins to hum along lowly, thinking of warm hands that healed wounds and wiped tears away, whispered words of comfort and brown eyes gazing at him with unadulterated maternal adoration.

He opens his eyes slowly, feeling a little drowsy, and doesn’t even realize Kouga’s stopped playing until the wolf demon lets out a shaky exhale.

“So,” He rasps. “What’d ya think?”

“That wasn’t so bad,” Inuyasha says softly, after a few beats of stunned silence. Words escape him as always, despite how much he wants to say more.

Kouga shrugs. “Definitely not as good as when she did it, but it’s— it’s nice to play it every now and then.”

Inuyasha can’t help but whisper to him. “...You okay?”

“Yeah,” Broad shoulders sag slowly, and then, a long sigh. “Yeah, I am.”

There’s a silence then, and Kouga’s mother’s song keeps playing itself in his head over and over, the gentle tune somehow familiar to him despite never having heard it before. Kouga lies back against Inuyasha’s shoulder as he’d been doing earlier, absentmindedly playing a few notes on the flute. 

“You didn’t answer my question,” Inuyasha prompts Kouga to elaborate with a grunt. His tone is lighthearted, and it helps lift the somber mood some. “Think you’d play better than I do?”

Inuyasha wonders if he’d be able to play songs his own mother used to sing to him when he was younger. “If I got Hakkaku to teach me for a bit, I’m sure I’d be able to.” 

It’d never compare to hearing her actual voice, soft and soothing and never failing to make him feel safe when it seemed that the whole world was against him. But it’d be... it’d be another connection he’d have with her. There are parts of the songs that he doesn’t remember, but maybe learning to play them would jog his memory and would ensure they wouldn’t be lost to time. Maybe he could even play them for the younger wolves and share it with them as well, and Kouga too, sharing a part of his mother with him like the wolf demon had just done. 

“Yeah, maybe,” Kouga mumbles, twirling the flute in his hand almost reverently, eyes still misty with nostalgia. “Who knows? Maybe you actually have some sorta hidden talent. Could make up for how much you eat dirt when we spar.”

Inuyasha opens an eye to glare at him. “The hell are you talkin’ about, wolf?” He hisses. “I beat you at sparring tons of times before. More than _you’ve_ beat _me_.”

“That was just luck,” Kouga teases, putting down the flute and slightly turning to peer at Inuyasha with a playful glint in his eye. “Flukes, all of ‘em.”

“Flukes!?” Inuyasha blurts out incredulously, ignoring the tug in his chest at the sight of Kouga’s grin. “I’ll show you a ‘fluke’ you damn—“

“Nah, later,” Kouga yawns loudly, and Inuyasha knows he’s being obnoxious on purpose. He has half a mind to move his shoulder and let Kouga sleep on the hard, rocky ground, but something inside him makes him decide against it. “Think I’m gonna take a quick nap first.”

Inuyasha scoffs, but lowers his shoulder a bit so Kouga can rest on it more comfortably. “Looks like the song still works. If anything I’ll learn just so I can play that and knock you out when you’re being dumb so I can have some peace and quiet.” 

“If you end up being just as bad as me, all you’ll end up doing is giving me nightmares,” Kouga shuts his eyes. “Now shut up, I’m tryin’ to sleep.”

Inuyasha huffs, irritated, but he relents. He makes a mental note to not make it easy for Kouga the next time they spar before he succumbs to his earlier drowsiness and falls asleep too, meeting Izayoi in his dreams.


End file.
